Joe Miller wants you to know he is not some “wild-eyed guy.”
Isn't saying "I am not some wild eyed guy" kind of like Christine O'Donnell making a television ad that starts off with "I am not a witch?" I mean if you have to actually make that statement, isn't it kind of too late?
Though I have to admit that the seven empty chairs sitting directly in front of him look like they totally buying it.
Well maybe Miller was able to make his case about not being crazy. Let's hear what he discussed at this town hall.
Miller acknowledged that he supports abolishing the Department of Education because it is not authorized in the Constitution, but he said the idea is no more extreme than what was proposed by President Ronald Reagan while he was in office.
Dismantle the government agency which educates our children and helps to keep our country competitive with the rest of the world? That sounds EXACTLY like the kind of statement a "wild eyed guy" would say. Or an idiot like Ronald Reagan.
Strike one. Try again.
Miller often returned to the idea of restricting the federal government to only powers allowed by the Constitution.
He called the idea of a living, changing Constitution “bullcrap,” and said he would support an amendment for term limits as well as an amendment repealing the 17th Amendment, which allows for the direct election of senators by the public rather than by state legislatures.
Okay, let me see if I have this straight.
According to Miller the Constitution is NOT a living document so we should never have added the amendments that abolished slavery or gave women the right to vote. Yet he then wants to ignore his own declaration that amendments to the Constitution are bullcrap, by supporting amendments that would introduce term limits and take away the citizen's right to elect their own United States senators. Oh no THAT is not crazy at all!
Strike two.
Does Miller at least have enough confidence in the people of this country to believe they can withstand a terrorist attack without allowing the country to fall apart?
“One bomb in one city could end our Constitutional republic,” he said.
Strike three.
Well I guess it could be worse, I mean it's not like Miller, or his family, has accepted federal medical insurance, or the state's socialist Denali Kidcare insurance, while he has been advocating rejecting federal dollars or anything hypocritical like that.
From ADN:
U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller acknowledged Thursday that in the past his family received assistance from federal Medicaid and Denali KidCare, the state low income health care program. His opponents in the race responded that he’s a hypocrite for taking assistance while now saying federal entitlement programs are unconstitutional.
Shall we call that strike four?
Boy that Sarah Palin sure can pick'em can't she?
“One bomb in one city could end our Constitutional republic,” he said.
ReplyDeleteThis comment by Joe Miller was tested and disproven by the proto-teabaggers Timothy McViegh and Terry Nichols.
speaking of crazy, here is a great video made by a sane person pointing out the crazy in the teabaggers of our nation - very cleverly done.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/07/tea-party-song-parody_n_754874.html
pssssst. Christine O'Donnell doesn't even know if Palin is qualified to be president.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/en/o-donnell-palin-qualified
by the way, loved your analysis of joe's "i'm not crazy" defense. if he were at bat he would hve struck out many time over, i'm sure.
ReplyDeletehey, ot, but have you noticed the he says words like "real/rill" and "deal/dill" just like sarah? and he is from kansas... isn't joe a close personal, long-time friend of the palin's, or did i read that wrong? could sarah have learned "kansan"? and do kansans even speak like this?
So Joe would like us all to live like its 1776. Lovely. An 18th century mindset is no way to run a country in the 21st century. I'm not surprised that someone who homeschooled their kids wants to abolish the Dept. of Education. The USA will just continue to sink into oblivion in terms of advancement. Then Joe and Palin can crow about American exceptionalism...we'll look exceptionally backwards while emerging nations will leave us in the dust. What is their vision for the future? I've yet to hear a plausible one. Stagnation does not move us forward. I guess that's what they want. Glad I'll be long dead if these people get their way.
ReplyDeleteI was the empty chair on the far right last night. . .I have more substance and boot-strap work ethic than that grifting fraud.
ReplyDeleteThe way he took advantage of and exploited numerous government social safety nets as an able and working attorney is disgusting.
He unjustly milked the system that he built a platform criticizing, and yet he and the people that support him like Sarah Palin endeavor to make other regular citizens ashamed of needing - no matter their reason.
He gets to join the ranks of vocal "fiscally conservative" figures that are jaw-dropping hypocrites like Sarah Palin, Lou Dobbs and Meg Whitman.
Article V of the Constitution says it is a changeable document:
ReplyDelete" The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution.."
Article I, Section 8 gives Congress the power to enact legislation to provide for the General Welfare of the United States. Education, Health Care legislation, and on and on all provide for the General Welfare.
Joe Miller is an ass hat.
Bird Burnett @ 3:42 - Aren't Joe's words dangerously suggestive to a fringe group that are calling for taking up arms against their fellow citizens and government that like this hope and changey thingy? Much like Bill O'Reilly's Tiller Tiller Baby Killer?
ReplyDeleteMan, the louder these people bray about something, you more you can be sure they're guilty as sin for whatever it is they're vilifying. Railing against gays? Probably in the closet with a penchant for gay prostitutes. Demonizing government spending? Likely the poster child for government largess.
ReplyDeleteMaybe we look into some of the most vocal "pro-lifers." Who knows what they could be doing to babies!
I wonder if people who are supporting or are part of the extreme lunatic fringe comprehend the consequences of what people like Miller are saying. Or do they hear selectively the justifications spun others are taking their country to communism, the "wrong" direction, anti American, and anti Constitution. Being in fear of that they perceive the extreme opposite the fringe positions their selves is their protector and savior of the spins/lies/distortions?
ReplyDeleteSo many people process information and think in extremes of black and white and it works to win people to the white or good side versus black and evil. Facts, cause and effect and consequences are irrelevant.
Just being devil's advocate, Miller seems to be saying the only way the Constitution can change is through amendment. Furthermore, if you want to do away with one of those amendments, you have to repeal it. What he doesn't agree with is courts deciding that certain unenumerated rights are already in the Constitution. That's a common speaking point for the anti-choice crowd and the Bork- and Rehnquist- and Roberts-types.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone asked him why fictional persons like corporations should have the rights of natural persons? That's not in the Constitution either, but his activist friends on courts have put it there. In fact, I've read that it was not even the real decision in that century-old case that all the Citizens-United-type decisions are based on, but rather an erroneous or manufactured part of someone's case summary.
Joe Miller's "truth" is, "The Constitution is not a flexible document unless someone has flexed it the way I want them to."
Now on Ebay Joe Millers new book: How to shoot yourself in the foot and get the Silver Star in 5 easy lessons.
ReplyDeletePlease remind me. Is there another Yale Law school in America that I haven't heard of or did Bozo Joe sleep through Constitutional Law classes?
Last I heard the U.S. Constitution was a malleable document and designed that way to accommodate the changes that the founding fathers might have not known about at the time and not sacrosanct rules for life chiseled in stone tablets never to be changed like the 10 Commandments were.
In the tonage of Tea Party and Whitey Tighty, right wingnut candidates packaged in human skin I have looked at this year it is hard to find a sparse ounce of common sense, compassion or understanding of the simple human rights that our country is supposedly based on in their pea brains collectively.
Today I see that Harry Reed is being endorsed by the GOP candidate in his district over Sharron Angle, Christine O Donnell has slipped even further in the polls to her challengers lead and the interview of Art Robinson Repub Congressional candidate in Oregon on the Maddow show last night only ad an exclamation point to how well these nutty right wingers are playing to their constituent bases.
Lets just hope they keep opening their yaps and spouting ignorance.
The Department of Education does not educate our children. The states and local school districts set curricula and standards. The DoE doesn't handle accreditation either. All the Department of Education does is provide a relatively minor amount of school funding through various programs.
ReplyDeleteThe DoE should probably be disbanded, not because it's unconstitutional, but because it doesn't have enough clout to have a real impact on education in this country. The money would be better spent if it were directly sent to each state.
Darkfang@6:11
ReplyDeleteThe State of Alaska is notoriously neglectful in its oversight of rural education. Might as well throw in health, sanitation and public safety, housing (weatherization,) transportation.
I would not trust our educational mandations from Texas or Alaska lawmmakers and Board of Education freaks.
The state is inherently racist. Even the Russians were more fair to the Indigenous people than the fundy leaders that make up the populations centers heavily represented.
If it weren't for those foreign dictators like Chavez in Venezuela, Governor Palin's village citizens would have been kept in the dark, cold and hungry for all the attention she put in the matter. Instead she spent $740 million to buy her popularity with energy rebate dollars instead of a tactful direct vendor / LIHEAP like program and take measures to curb energy consumption.
If it weren't for the Feds, sport and big game hunters from the Lower 48 would have first pick at wild game that are necessary for local resident Subsistence.
Joe's way would be devastating to the State's First Peoples.
This man attended law school where I'm sure he took at least one course in constitutional law. I find it appalling that he doesn't know that the founders included a way to amend the the Constitution. He either slept through his constitutional law class(es,) or he's telling those whom he thinks might vote for him in the general election what they want to hear.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think, this is the man that many Alaskans want to send to Congress to take an oath to defend and protect our Constitution?
IMHO, the comments about the Constitution by themselves makes him unsuitable for the job.
President Obama was criticized relentlessly by many on the right when he defended the Establishment Clause in the Park 51 debate. I dismissed everything they had to say because when President Obama defended the Constitution, he was doing exactly what he had pledged to do in his oath of office.
Some on the right are very confused. On the one hand, they say they want a government run according to the Constitution while on the other hand, they want to change the very document they say they want to use to govern the country. FoxPac and the rw media have done irreparable damage to our country, all in the interest of protecting the assets of the rich and powerful.
Based on what I read in the Bible, God definitely has something in store for this cast of characters.
aNON @ 4:42 "What is their vision for the future? I've yet to hear a plausible one."
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen the film, "The Village?"
B said: Just being devil's advocate, Miller seems to be saying the only way the Constitution can change is through amendment.
ReplyDeleteAnd being devil's advocate right back at ya.'
That type of procedure would certainly shut down government and be prohibitively expensive. Imagine amendment procedures every time there was a new invention in communication!
Changes in society and technology occur without government action. Rather than write and enact a new Amendment, legislators wisely see that the change already falls into a category already addressed and simply subsumes the technology system or behavior under the already existing law - newspapers to radio to TV to the InterNet all get freedom of the press, right?
The courts get to sort it out after the fact, but in the meantime, the country/business gets to keep functioning.
And that "welfare" part is a huge category umbrella, that includes much that did not exist in 1776 - for example, major industry which consumes commodity labor, hence OSHA/Dept of Labor. The entire food as commodity industry which is why USDA and FDA, a literate population and a modern industrial and knowledge economy - which is why the Dept of Education.
Miller's an idiot - Palin's endorsement confirms she is too, then again, we already knew that.
Seems Joe sang a different tune in 2004-http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/100810/loc_717574213.shtml
ReplyDelete“One bomb in one city could end our Constitutional republic,” he said.
ReplyDeleteI tend to agree with him on this one Gryph. We would then probably go under martial law, the shit would hit the fan and our consitutional republic would be gone.
So was there an election and I missed it? Or does Miller think that Palin has appointed him to the senate?
ReplyDeleteThe Huffington Post is quoting Miller that the head republican in the Senate is will to shut down government.
SOme places these threats to shut down the government would be considered a threat to national security and people would be jailed.
WAKE UP ALASKA!
Anon@6:28 AM,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with everything you said in your comment. I've been monitoring AK's educational effectiveness for a few years now, just as I've done for other states. IIRC, a few years ago, AK had one of the worst graduation rates in the nation, and under Palin's administration, the state rejected opting into the national education standards program. Public education is very important to me because I spent 33 years in a public high school classroom before I retired in 2009. I get very upset when people who have never spent one second teaching anything attempt to destroy what they aren't even qualified to discuss. If these people are so interested in what goes on in public education, one way they could help straighten out some of the problems that they profess to "know" about is to get a job in public education.
I would love to see them do something besides complain, complain, and complain again.
I'm willing to guess that the majority of those who are complaining about how public education doesn't "work" are among the group of parents who never show at any school-sponsored event to check up on own their kids' educational progress, and who never log onto their home computers to check their kids' grades.
Most of the parents of my students fit into these categories. I can't recall the number of parents who had no idea of why their kids were failing my U.S. History/world history/civics classes.
Majji 6:58
ReplyDeleteRemember, Georgie Bush said the Constitution was "juat a goddamned piece of paper"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/11/144223/09
I get so sick and tired of that stupid "It's not in the Constitution" argument!
ReplyDeleteOK, Alaska reporters (I'm down here in Florida, where we have our own nuts), will somebody PLEASE ask Mr. Miller is he also opposes:
* Veterans benefits, which the Founding Fathers did not think to put in the Constitution,
* The building and the maintenance of the A1 highway north from Anchorage,
* The purchase of Alaska from Russia?
Anybody who has been through law school and makes such stupid comments has got to be faking it to make himself look like a good ol' common-sense kinda guy.
Stick a fork in him Mable. He's done.
ReplyDeleteRick
7:11 This from your link says it all.
ReplyDelete"In the district based around the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Miller moved towards the middle, Guttenberg said.
"He worked on not revealing who he was," Guttenberg said. "I think he was a chameleon." "'
The question must be asked is Quiverfull Joe Miller on his own mission- or is someone else giving the orders.
The reason for the empty chairs in his hometown? Maybe the campaign sent out orders to the more obvious nutter supporters to stay at home and get ready for whatever they need to get ready for.
Joe is a tenther.
ReplyDeleteSo is Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Check out this link at the update
http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2010/03/cuccinelli-birther-tenther-and-liar.html
to see the video of Attorney General Cuccinelli saying he might not get his child a Social Security number- because:
"We're gonna have our 7th child on Monday, if he's not born before. And, for the very concerns you state, we're actually considering -- as I'm sure many of you here didn't get a Social Security number when you were born, they do it now -- we're considering not doing that. And a lot of people are considering that now, because it is being used to track you."
Here is a question that Joe Miller needs to be asked: Do all your children have Social Security numbers- or just the ones that got government assistance. They had ssn's didn't they?
Do you hear black helicopters Joe?
wow. good luck in alaska. that guy IS a crazy know-nothing. no wonder sarah supported him.
ReplyDeletethe idea that you eliminate federal agencies because they're not authorized in the constitution is fucking absurd. these people really do want to go back to the 1700's.
So let me get this straight. Miller got farm subsidies, low cost loans, hired his wife who then got unemployment benefits, denali kid care, low cost fishing licenses, West Point education , and he wants to put America back to 1776. What is wrong with this picture and who are the raving red necks that are supporting him? Each and every day I am amazed.
ReplyDeleteOh and for the record Joe, you are crazy and anyone that can't see it is blind.
Now all we need is for drowning Joe Miller to drag Sarah and Todd Palin down on his last trip to the bottom.
ReplyDeleteMiller says he hasn't received government assistance "for years."
ReplyDeleteSo it's ok when he needs it, but when he has no more use for it, no one else should get it.
I predicted Joe would get abortion injected into this race to create a distraction from all of his hypocrisy.
ReplyDeletehttp://community.adn.com/adn/node/153564
Rick
Darkefang: You're wrong. The Department of Education is in charge of student loans. So, unless you're one of the lucky top 2% in this country, or you were in the military, chances are, the DoE has had an impact on your life.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I called in 2006 to find out why my federal student loan interest rates were so high, considering lending rates at that time were low, I was told it's set by the DoE.
Now, by the way, my interest is 2 percent, thanks to Arne Duncan and the Obama administration! Don't tell me it doesn't make a difference.
It should be "MOOSE CRAP"
ReplyDeleteJoe Miller is worse for Alaska than Lisa Murkowski in the senate. Will the Alaskan electorate vote to continue the very lucrative funding to Alaska from the other states or will it send Joe Miller to the Senate?
ReplyDeletePork is the issue, not principles of constitutional government.
I think Alaskan's will chose pork.
The fact that the Constitution had to have 10 Amendments added before it could even be ratified by all 13 colonies does kind of put the whamy on the "it's not a living changing document" BS.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDeletepssssst. Christine O'Donnell doesn't even know if Palin is qualified to be president.
http://www.politicususa.com/en/o-donnell-palin-qualified
4:19 AM
Either that or she doesn't know that the only "qualification" is citizenship. Apparently she hasn't read that page of the Tea Bag Bible.
Miller acknowledged that he supports abolishing the Department of Education because it is not authorized in the Constitution,
ReplyDeleteJeez. NASA isn't authorized in the Constitution either. Does he want to abolish that, too?